The City of Fullerton Police Department
has been in partnership with the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, its
four high school campuses and the Fullerton School District, with 15 elementary
schools and three junior high schools over the past six years. We have two
D.A.R.E. officers serving the 15 elementary schools and four High School
Resource Officers serving our four high schools and three junior high
schools.

Our High School Resource Officers have
an office on each of the high school campuses and are considered an important
part of the high school staff. The officers have law enforcement and
investigative responsibilities for crimes occurring on their respective
campuses. They report to the Community Services Sergeant, however they must also
develop and maintain relationships with school administrators, teachers, and
students in order to establish trust and effectively facilitate appropriate
interventions.

2. When was the program created and
why?

In 1990 the Fullerton Police Department
implemented a pilot community policing program called "Operation Clean Up." By
1992 our program evolved with one component offering a High School Resource
Officer to work with all four high school campuses. Our efforts were limited due
to severe budget constraints and an increase in overall gang activity in
Fullerton.

Although our resources were limited, we
continued our commitment to keep an officer available to the High Schools. In
spite of this effort, we recognized an increase of gang activity on the
campuses, resulting in several major incidents. Our need to monitor gang
activity and to investigate gang related crimes continued to strain available
resources.

With the understanding that the essence
of community policing is corroboration, we participated in a coalition including
the Orange County Department of Education, our two school districts, probation,
the District Attorney, and Orange County Human Relations Commission. The purpose
of this was to apply for a State of California Grant to combat gang violence in
our community.

We were successful in obtaining funding
under our grant titled Community Unified For Fullerton Safety or
"CUFFS."

3. How do you measure the
programís effectiveness?

The CUFFS grant proved very effective,
evidenced by the grant being funded for the last six years. The grant contains
specific requirements to measure our success, including tracking the following:

The number of students or gang members
referred to one of our community

All contacts of gang members from our community by other
agencies documented on the "Cal-Gangs" computer system;

The increase/decrease of crimes on
campus and gang related crime;

The referrals to probation and the
district attorney office; and

All contacts of local gang members by
our own officers.

What is invaluable yet difficult to
quantify, is the relationship and cooperation we have developed with the CUFFS
participants over the past six years.

4. How is the program
financed?

The original grant was renewed for a
second three year period so we have been funded by the state grant for the past
six years. Over these years, there has been a matching fund component involved
in the grant which has been paid out of Asset Forfeiture Funds. In July of 1998
we were funded for another three years under a similar grant which expands our
service area into the adjoining City of Buena Park.

5. How is the community involved in the
program, if at all? How has the community responded to the
program?

Community involvement is the essence of
community policing and provides the foundation for our High School Resource
Programs. Our High School Resource Officers and D.A.R.E. Officers have
established lasting relationships with representatives from the Boys and Girls
Club of Fullerton, Shortstop intervention program, Orange Korean Church,
Fullerton Museum and Orange County Human Relations Commission, as well as the
educational components. This includes personal relationships with our school
district administrators, principals, teachers, and students. We have developed
trust and communication channels that we would not have enjoyed without this
program.

Our networking has also reached the
business community by involving the chamber of commerce and three rotary clubs
which provide mentoring and job shadowing programs.

Our program has been so successful that
our City Manager and Chief of Police committed general fund dollars to continue
the High School Resource program when our grant funding ended, prior to the new
funding being approved.